Reminisce of the extraordinary; Fashion has transcended from the ordinary flow of fabric into the world of ultimate re-definition. We explore the thoughts of unusual forms that breed revolutionary creations in garment artistry...
Fashion revolution...Reina de las Fabricas

Tuesday, 17 February 2015

‘There is something sinister, something quite biographical about what I do
- but that part is for me. It's my personal business. I think there is a lot of
romance, melancholy. There's a sadness to it, but there's romance in sadness. I
suppose I am a very melancholy person.’ Alexander McQueen

For the many that have at a point surfed through the media or digital
platforms for the trending fashion and designer, a McQueen must have been encountered.
You know how it is say that everybody know a Mike? Well, it is fair to said that
a true artist and lover of the weft and warp would have at a point in time,
gazed with unfathomably at the creations of Alexander McQueen. My search for a
daring designer lead me straight to him and fascinating is too small an adverb
to qualify the creations that lived with and after him.

Born born on March 17, 1969, in Lewisham, London,
McQueen became the head designer of the Louis Vuitton-owned Givenchy fashion
line and launched his men’s clothing line in 2004. He earned the British
Fashion Council's British Designer of the Year award four times, and was named
Commander of the Order of the British Empire. McQueen committed suicide in
2010, shortly after the death of his mother.

What is your muse? This is what I like to ask any artist no matter the
line of expression. How does a man position his mind to conjure and interpret the
inner waves that spark and rage with light? McQueen is a rare artist that has
more eyes than the ordinary. He plays with the unusual and creates art from the
most distant of themes. My instant attraction to his work is the uncommon
themes of his collection; Highland Rape, Autumn/Winter 1995, Golden Shower,
Spring/Summer 1998, No 13, Spring/Sumer 1999,Voss, Spring/Summer 2001,It’s Only
a Game, Spring/Summer 2005 Windows of Culloden Autumn/ Winter 2006, Horn of
Plenty Autumn/Winter 2009, Plato’s Atlantis Spring/Summer 2010 among other. The peculiarity of his themes
transcend to his design, dresses that craved out a place of unusual creativity
for him in the world of fashion.

(RIGHT)‘I don’t really get inspired [by specific women]. . . . It’s more in the
minds of the women in the past, like Catherine the Great, or Marie Antoinette.
People who were doomed. Joan of Arc or Colette. Iconic women’McQueen-Purple
Fashion, Summer 2007

'When I design, I try to sell an image of a woman that I have in [my]
mind, a concept that changes dramatically each season.'McQueen-Corriere della Sera, July 14, 2003

'[In this collection] she was a feral creature living in the tree. When
she decided to descend to earth, she transformed into a princess.'McQueen-Interview, September 2008

'Scotland for me is a harsh, cold and bitetr place. Itwas even wors when my great, great grandfather used to live there...the reason i'm patriotic about Scotland is because I think it's been dealt a really hard hand. It's marketed the world over as...haggis...bagpipes. But no one ever puts anything back into it.' McQueen-The independent Fashion Magazine, Autumn/Winter 1999

Exceptional creations of McQueen have been staged and though they may
express an unusual atmosphere and tone, he creates then to go beyond borders of
a season and sustain and attitude beyond its acceptance.

Andrew Bolton stated that 'it was precisely his[McQueen's] romantic yearnings that propelled his creativity and advanced fashion in the directions previously considered unimaginable

Alexander McQueen
– Savage Beauty exhibition at The
Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York features five of
McQueen’s landmark collections — Dante (Autumn/Winter 1996-97),NO13 (Spring/Summer 1999),VOSS
(Spring/Summer 2001), Irere (Spring/Summer 2003), and Plato’s Atlantis (Spring/Summer
2010). The collection is divided into galleries of themes and
concepts occurring in McQueen’s work — The Romantic Mind, Romantic
Gothic, Romantic Naturalism, Romantic Primitivism, Romantic Nationalism, and
Romantic Exoticism, as well as a Cabinet of Curiosities. Below, razor-clam
shell dress from VOSS, Spring 2001.

According to Andrew Bolton McQueen often used the raw
materials of nature, and a striking example is this dress, which is entirely
covered with pheasant feathers. The silhouette, with its long torso, is based
on dresses from the 1890s.

The dress formed part of the 2006–7 collection,Widows of Culloden, which referenced a
battle in the struggles between England and Scotland.

‘Birds in flight fascinate me. I
admire eagles and falcons. I’m inspired by a feather but also its colour, its
graphics, its weightlessness and its engineering. It’s so elaborate. In fact I
try and transpose the beauty of a bird to women.’McQueen-Numéro, December 2007

‘I relate more to that cold, austere asceticism of the Flemish masters,
and I also love the macabre thing you see in Tudor and Jacobean portraiture.’McQueen-Harper’s & Queen, April
2003

(RIGHT) Razor-clam shell stripped and varnished
‘My friend George and I were walking
on the beach in Norfolk, and there were thousands of [razor-clam] shells. They
were so beautiful, I thought I had to do something with them. So, we decided to
make [a dress] out of them. . . . The shells had outlived their usefulness on
the beach, so we put them to another use on a dress. Then Erin [O’Conner] came
out and trashed the dress, so their usefulness was over once again. Kind of
like fashion, really. ’McQueen-WWD,
September 28, 2000

According to Andrew Bolton, one of the most compelling item from Alexander McQueen's exhibition is the ensemble made of duck feathers dyed black to give out the impression of a raven which was a romantic symbol of death. The ensemble is among McQueen's collection 'The Horn of Plenty' which was much inspired by the 1950's haute couture. McQueen's love for high shoulders and small waist. McQueen was a lover of birds and their feathers played a major role in his works. In McQueen's words, 'It is important to look at death because it is part of life. It is a sad thing, melancholy but romantic at the same time. It is the end of a cycle-everything has an end. The cycle of life is positive because it gives room for mew things' Drapers-Feb 20,2010

“[This collection] was a shout against English designers . . . doing
flamboyant Scottish clothes. My father’s family originates from the Isle of
Skye, and I’d studied the history of the Scottish upheavals and the Clearances.
People were so unintelligent they thought this was about women being raped—yetHighland Rapewas about England’s rape of Scotland.” McQueen-Time Out(London),
September 24–October 1, 1997

'I liked the padded hips because they didn't make the [piece] look historical...more sensual. Like the statue of Diana with breast and big hips. Its more maternal, more womanly.'McQueen- Purple Fashion, Issue 7, Summer 2007

(Right)The Oyster dress from McQueen's Irene Spring /Summer 2003 collection is made of hundreds of layers of silk organza, almost like a mille-feuiller pastry. The collection told the story of a shipwreck at the sea and the subsequent landfall in the Amazon, peopled with pirates, conquistadors and Amazonian Indians. The collection was also indspired by the life

Of this piece from McQueen's collection,'Its only a Game', Bolton states that plays around the idea of a chess match between America and Japan. The Queen (outfit above) wears a short. thigh-tight dress, which is wide at the hips, a silhouette based on the 18th century. The kimono collar, obi sash and an undershirt beautifully embroidered are all drawn from the Japaneses culture.

(LEFT)'I spent a long time learning how to co struct clothes, which is important to do before you can deconstruct them'.McQueen-Self service, Spring/ Summer 2002

The 'Eshu' Dress(Right) was inspired by the Yoruba people of West Africa, mixing tribal details with luxurious fabric. The dress was embroidered with yellow glass beads interwoven with horsehair. McQueen contrast the sophistication of the beading with the rawness of the hair.'(I try) push the silhouette. To change the silhouette is to change the thinking of how we look. What I do is to look at ancient African tribes and the way they dress. The rituals of how they dress...there's a lot of tribalism in the collection.' McQueen-Purple Fashion,Issue 7, Summer 2007(LEFT) Overdress of panels from the nineteenth- century Japanese silk screen; under dress of oyster shell with neck piece of silver and Tahiti pearls. Neck piece by Shaun Leane

According to Sarah Burton, Plato's Atlantis(LEFT) which is the last collection of McQueen was an idea of sort of the reversal of evolution, how life would evoke back into the water if the ice caps melted and we were reclaimed by nature.[This collection predicts a future in which] the ice cap would melt...the water would rise and...life on earth would have to evolve in order to live beneath the sea once more or perish. Humanity [would] go back to the place from once it came',McQueen- Plato's Atlantis-Spring/Summer 2010

(LEFT)Dress of black leather;collar of red pheasant feathers and resin vulture skuls; gloves of black leather[In this collection] my idea was this
mad scientist who cut all these women up and mixed them all back together.’McQueen-Numéro, July/August 2002

“I don’t think like the average person on the street. I think quite
perversely sometimes. McQueen-Dazed
and Confused, September 1998

.....The turnover of fashion is just so quick and so throwaway, and I think
that is a big part of the problem. There is no longevity.....Alexander McQueen

Tuesday, 10 February 2015

Owing to the obsession with head pieces from the chief bride's maids to the classy event, to tamed parties and mirror narcissism, lets not forget that it is also a mark of religious porsche-ness-The Hat.

Racing through every civilization, women adorn their hairs in different regalia and themes. Native Americans used feathers, Aztecs would braid their hair with strips of coloured cloth and Egyptians adorn their wigs with gold. Tn Ancient Greece and Rome, many women sprinkled their hair with gold powder, using fresh flours or jewels to decorate it. In Africa, women in some tribes decorated their hair hair with bone pins and leaves.

At the end of the 13th century, the 'Ramshorm' become a popular hair style, using coiled hair around the ears and a center parting(Princess Leia-Style) where Jeweled brooches serves as embellishments. It was not partial as it was mostly to the noble class where they showed off their wealth and expensive cloths.

During the 1700s the millinery profession was established offering plenty of hair decoration options for women. Milliners are mostly women who specialize in the decoration of hair and hats to match moods and outfits..The extremities of head dressing began to filter down to the lower class in the 19th century at the time of the revolution. The term 'Fascinator' appeared in America in the 1860s referring to a light weight loosely-knitted or crocheted scarf, a small shawl worn over the head.

Fascinators and cocktail hats fell from fashion after the 1960s and became more of a fashion statement in the 1080s. Princess Diana, Grace Jones patronized fashionable pieces during this period.

London based milliner Stephen Jones and Phillip Treacy are responsible for the popularity of the fascinator within fashion elites. Jones introduced the word fascinators to his designs as early as the late 1970s and by the 1980s, his Convent Garden Salon attracted the attention of celebrities and royalty. Treacy became famous in 1989 after designing Isabella Blow's wedding head piece.

The modern fascinator is often embellished with crystals, beads, loops of ribbons attached via a comb or head band. Others have small stiff, flat base that can be secured with pins.In a collaboration between the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Stephen Jones exhibited his head pieces for the first time in the country, displaying more than 250 hats. H displayed hats ranging from a 12th century Egyptian fez to a 1950s Balenciaga hat alongside other creations by Jones and his contemporaries. Jones spear headed the revolution of milliners in Europe in the early 1980s

Phillip Treacy show cases his artistic creations with celebrities and royalties in the likes Kate Middleton, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Victoria Beckham, the late Isabella Blow and other.His Spring Summer collection 2014 was duly inspired and crafted from real orchid flowers patronizing brilliant colours colours and shapes. These two designer among others like Suzy O'Rourke and Gulbert have created unique pieces that make a fashion statement.

'There's a technicality to designing and wearing hats. A hat is balancing the proportions of your face; its like architecture or mathematics'...Phillip Treacy

Dare to make a fashion statement at your parties and wedding?

............'How a hat makes you fell is what a hat is all about' Phillip Treacy..................

Head pieces by Stephen Jones at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London,

Head pieces by Stephen Jones at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London,

'Frozen' designed by Stephen Jones

Head pieces by Stephen Jones at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London,